


Cover My Scars

by DetectiveJoan



Category: Fablehaven Series - Brandon Mull
Genre: Blood and Injury, Future Fic, Gen, One Shot, Warren Burgess/Vanessa Santoro mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 19:39:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15420135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DetectiveJoan/pseuds/DetectiveJoan
Summary: “Objectively,” Warren says, pressing his bunched up t-shirt to his abdomen in a way that is barely doing anything to staunch the blood flow from a bite mark bigger than his hand, “being eviscerated by a werewolf is probably one of the cooler ways to die.”





	Cover My Scars

**Author's Note:**

> **Content warnings:** as mentioned in the tags above, there's lots of blood and gore in this one, as well as discussions &mentions of death. Skip this fic if you need to.
> 
> Title from "[Little Lies](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zITEAK1i0k)" by I'm With Her
> 
> Written for the prompt "werewolves" for the [Trope_Writing_Prompts](https://pillowfort.io/community/Trope_Writing_Prompts) community on Pillowfort

“Objectively,” Warren says, pressing his bunched up t-shirt to his abdomen in a way that is barely doing anything to staunch the blood flow from a bite mark bigger than his hand, “being eviscerated by a werewolf is probably one of the cooler ways to die.”

“Don’t be so dramatic. It's not a werewolf and you’re not going to die,” Kendra says firmly. She has Warren’s head cradled in her lap, and she barely glances up as Garreth loads three arrows straight into the wolf’s neck.

“If you do, though, we’ll be sure to put it on your headstone,” Seth says, digging through the potions in his bag. “‘Here lies Warren Burgess, who objectively died in a very cool way.’”

There was a time when she probably would have felt faint at this whole situation. She remembers the first time she’d seen this much blood — during the zombie feeding at Lost Mesa — and how she’d had to wait in the truck to avoid passing out at the smell of it in the Arizona heat. Now she’s almost gotten accustomed to seeing injuries this bad. It still seems absurd that this much blood could come out of one person; Warren hadn’t bled this much when he’d been gored by that peryton on their first visit to Wyrmroost, or been clawed up by the jaguar guardian of the Sands of Sanctity, or had his chest slashed open by that pack of chimeras they’d crossed in the Philippines, or —

Sometimes she forgets just how often he pulls stunts like this.

Warren grimaces, but tries to twist it into a smile. There’s blood on his teeth.

“Nice and vague,” he says. “I like it. Doesn’t give any thrill-seeking kids like you any bad ideas about following me into the jaws of death.”

They’re not exactly kids anymore. Kendra will be twenty one next week and they’ve been permanent co-caretakers of a dragon sanctuary for nearly four years. Seth’s well on his way to becoming a potion master, and they’ve both been granted standing permission to enter the fairy realm at will. And they don’t need Warren to be a bad influence on them anymore — they’ve gotten very good at being that for each other. Case in point, she allowed Seth to drag them all out into the unmapped wilds of this God-forsaken preserve after dark on the night of a full moon.

Even considering all the blood, it’s not the worst idea he’s ever had.

Seth hands her a vial. She pulls the stopper out with her teeth, and takes the time to wipe at the blood leaking from the corner of Warren’s mouth before she brings the potion to his lips.

Seth places his hands over Warren’s, adding pressure to the wound. “This is mostly just a painkiller to keep you together long enough for Kendra to work her magic. Also, what do you think about being buried next to Patton? Yea or nay?”

Warren coughs on the potion, either because of the sharp taste or because there’s too much blood in his throat or because he’s trying to drink it while laughing at Seth.

“Patton has about seven graves —”

“— that we know of,” Kendra interjects, lifting Warren off her legs so she can shift around him and better see the wound. She has to move his hand away before peeling the shirt off his skin; the fabric is soaked straight through.

“That we know of,” Warren allows. “Which one did you have in mind?”

“Why not all of them?” Seth says.”I think you’ve faced down death enough times to deserve a few false graves of your own.”

Warren chuckles again. Grimaces again. “Man, how do you think Patton survived as long as he did?”

“By being fairystruck.” Kendra reaches deep within herself until she feels the edges of the healing magic Bracken had taught her how to find a few years earlier. She’s nothing compared to him, even without his third horn, but she can manage to heal most non-magic wounds. They’ll just have to cross their fingers that nothing about this being a skinwalker bite is going to complicate things too much. “You should try it sometime.”

Warren _hmmm_ s. “I think I do okay relying on you,” he says. When she looks up at him, his eyes are closed, and his brow is furrowed with a pain he’s somehow keeping out of his voice.

Instead of replying, she presses down on the wound with her mind, concentrates on slipping her magic over each place where a fang had cut into his skin, ghosting over his exposed muscles and viscera, and nudging everything towards healing. She watches as the bleeding slows, and then stops, and then the skin pulls back together. Bruises bloom under the heavy tint of blood still pooled on his skin, then fade and disappear just as quickly.

“That never gets less cool,” Seth admits, sitting back and wiping bloody handprints onto his own shirt. “Hey, do you think Warren’s gonna be a werewolf now? Because that’s like winning the awesome dollar lottery.”

“You know that's not how skinwalking works.” Kendra brushes sweat-soaked strands of hair out of her face. Her vision is swimming a bit, and she curls up to duck her head between her knees. She breathes out slowly. “Besides, how many idiot points do you think Vanessa would award us if we brought her husband back as a wolf?”

“Hey, she forgave us for that time we dragged him into a cursed bog and he got turned into a snake,” Seth points out. “Comparatively, this wouldn’t even be that big of a deal.”

**Author's Note:**

> Gosh, remember that time Kendra was like "It sure would be convenient if I were a dragon tamer right now" and then she just. . . became one? Because I love her and I'm so excited to see what other super cool super powers she's going to spontaneously grow during the next four books. 
> 
> Anyways, I'm DetectiveJoan and you can find me on [tumblr](http://detectivejoan.tumblr.com/)


End file.
